Bedminster and Parson Street - stations, facilities, services, events and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Bristol Post:

Rail campaigners celebrate new commuter service at Bedminster Station


Don the whistler joins rail campaigners at Bedminster Station

Rail campaigners are celebrating an extra evening commuter which is now calling at Bedminster Station in Bristol.

The 19.37 train arrives at Temple Meads at 19.40.

Members of the Friends of Bristol Suburban Railways were joined on the station^s platform by Don the Whistler who was dressed in a Brunel top hat to celebrate the new service.

The pressure group launched their ^Unite the City^ campaign nearly three years ago for 30 minute services to all local railway stations.

FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways) campaigner Julie Bostin said: ^Although an extra train is an improvement, there is no connecting train from Temple Meads to Avonmouth so the campaign continues.^

The pressure group will urge city councillors to negotiate with First Great Western to amend the December timetable so that commuters can connect with the Avonmouth /Severn Beach trains.

Purely in the interests of clarity, 'FOSBR campaigner Julie Bostin' is actually Julie Boston. 

[RichardB]

Good to see long-time campaigner David Redgewell there.

[John R]

One of the final services of the evening appears to have hit someone at Parson St last night. Curiously the station is still closed this morning although services are running through.

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows the last northbound service being delayed by 108 mins arriving into BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) at 0138, and the last southbound HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) (2335 ex BRI) showing an arrival into BRI at 0128 which may have been turned back.

As always sympathies to all those caught up in the incident, both family and railway staff. 

[Ollie]

One of the final services of the evening appears to have hit someone at Parson St last night. Curiously the station is still closed this morning although services are running through.

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows the last northbound service being delayed by 108 mins arriving into BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) at 0138, and the last southbound HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) (2335 ex BRI) showing an arrival into BRI at 0128 which may have been turned back.

As always sympathies to all those caught up in the incident, both family and railway staff. 

1C32  (2145 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)) was the one that unfortunately hit. Station had to be closed for cleaning.

[sprinterguard]

It was unfortunately rather more serious than a simple fatality. I'm sure more news will come as & when it becomes public.

[TaplowGreen]

Sounds pretty awful all round.

[infoman]

3rd September 2017 09:00am till 11:00am
Please use public transport if you can,
although the first train from Bristol temple meads to Parson street is 10:22

[Phantom]

3rd September 2017 09:00am till 11:00am
Please use public transport if you can,
although the first train from Bristol temple meads to Parson street is 10:22

Did anyone attend this event?
Was curious how the event was marked

[Red Squirrel]

Like this, apparently:

Approximately 300 people turned out to celebrate the 90th birthday of Parson Street station. The celebration was
timed to coincide with the steam engine “Clan Line” departing on a Torbay Express excursion to Dartmouth. The
speed of this train, and of the preceding HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)), demonstrated the importance of the recently-painted yellow lines which
remind passengers to stay well back from the platform edge.
The fantastic Friends of Parson Street Railway Station group organized refreshments, stalls and music from the
Ravens Marching Band. Special edition Parson Street fridge magnets proved popular and an information board about the station history was unveiled.

Source and further details: FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)

[grahame]

Did anyone attend this event?
Was curious how the event was marked

Welcome to the forum, Phantom ... looks like you've had a "direct" answer, but no-one has yet stuck up their hand to say "I was there"

[johnneyw]

First I've heard about this extended track maintenance program at Bedminster Station.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/rail-works-bedminster-overnight-station-2210738

[Phantom]

I witnessed chaos on my service home last night too

1H31 was cancelled from Paddington to WSM, so the usual 1613 commuter train from Temple Meads down to WSM didn't run

This meant that 2Y24 Filton Abbey Wood to WSM was going to be very overcrowded.

Last night it was one of the Castle HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) sets, but oddly only three carriages as coach B was missing

Anyway every seat taken, standing all the way through the train and cramped in the vestibules

On arrival into Bedminster the train Manager announces that only the door in the front carriage will be open at Bedminster and Parson Street, which didn't help because on this set, the first door on Coach A was for the bikes storage.
So all the passengers for Bedminster and Parson Street had to disembark from one door !

Queue chaos with people struggling to get through a jam packed service and one couple not able to get through in time so had to travel down to Nailsea and then back up again

No idea why the three carriages could not have been used at both stations, as they adequately take 3/4 coaches normally and certainly not helped by the fact that it was nigh on impossible to actually move about the train

[Red Squirrel]

Bedminster Station is a bit of a bleak place, but its fortunes may be about to improve. A new development at Bedminster Green will bring 3,000 more people within a short walk of the station; trains to Portishead will stop there and there is talk of re-quadrifying the lines.

But access is not good; there is a single subway entrance on the wrong side of the tracks for the main shopping area and Bedminster Green, leading to ramps which are too steep. In 2019 a development framework was produced for the area which proposed building a new entrance building on a plot of council-owned land between the station and Whitehouse Lane. The subway would be extended under the track to connect to this.

Further study showed that this would be difficult because the up relief line, under which the subway would have to pass, is lower than the other lines. This makes everything that much more complicated, i.e. expensive!

Bristol Civic Society and FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) have both responded to a recent consultation on transport links in the area, in the hope that even if funding cannot be found immediately the site will be retained so that access can be improved at some future date. Their responses are here:

https://www.bristolcivicsociety.org.uk/bedminster-green-river-restoration-and-transport-consultation/

https://fosbr.org.uk/bedminster-station/

[Red Squirrel]

Something I missed earlier was that WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about)'s Strategic Rail Plan contains plans to reinstate four tracks through Bedminster Station (see https://bit.ly/3eonMn2, P.46):

Under 'New schemes to be developed in the 10 Year Rail Delivery Plan and delivered 2030 to 2045', we have:

Future timetable increases to the South - Increase capacity and improve resilience for new MetroWest services between Portishead and BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative))
Bristol to Exeter CMSP. Bristol West Junction Enhancement.
Four tracking Bristol Temple Meads to Parson Street. Passenger and train capacity at Bristol Temple Meads.

When Filton Bank was re-quadrified, Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill Stations (which had had four-platforms) were reconfigured as two-platform stations on the new relief lines, with the main lines bypassing them.

It has been proven more than once(!) that it's above my pay grade to try to second-guess Network Rail, but does it not seem likely that both Bedminster and Parson Street stations might get rejigged in a similar way, with the northern tracks becoming the relief lines and the platforms on the new mains being demolished?

Do any members have a view on this? Have I got the wrong end of the stick?

[infoman]

To be honest,I don't think re-instating the "down slow line" will improve things.
You only get stopped at Bedminster if your booked platform is occupied when your train service has run early.
Can't recall getting delayed heading down towards weston super mare.